OUSD board denies Lazear Elementary charter application

Parents of Lazear students line up Wednesday night to implore the OUSD board to approve the school's application to covert to a charter.

Breaking down in tears, Hae-Sin Thomas appealed to the Oakland Unified School District board “emotionally and personally,” she said in asking to approve a charter application for Lazear Elementary, a Fruitvale area school that the district has slated for closure in the fall.

Thomas is the CEO of charter school management company Education for Change, and she urged the board to convert Lazear to a charter school instead of closing it as planned next fall. Education for Change would manage the school if it became a charter.

But the board can’t make emotional decisions, board member Christopher Dobbins said, and “this is an issue that is about the numbers.” Last fall, citing too few students at too many schools, the board voted to close five elementary schools to save $2 million.

A majority of the board took Dobbins’ side, voting 5-2 on Wednesday night to deny Lazear’s application to convert to a charter. The vote was along the same lines as in October, when the board voted to close five schools, including Lazear, with board members Noel Gallo (District 5) and Alice Spearman (District 7) opposing both time.

The board’s vote on Wednesday effectively closes Lazear, pending an appeal by the school to the Alameda County Board of Education.